"Now what you need to do is get out of there. The UBCS will be coming through, and you don't want to run into them. They're friendlies, yes, but they did something stupid and you don't want to get caught up in it." There was one last whirring sound before the voice added, "I'll be in touch. So don't panic when you hear me. My name's Carmen."

-----

Carmen turned off the speaker, turning to the screen with Cyril on it. Now he was an oddball, but his.. immunity to the sight of the dead things was promising in regard to his survival. His father had been a good man; though, admittedly, hard to explain all the deaths to. Eventually it had been a "Don't Ask, We'll Pay" agreement for the embalming that did happen.

Some deaths had just been too grotesque to go anywhere but the furnace.

"Boss?" It was her phone; she'd put it on speaker in case the UBCS needed her.

"What." She swiveled her chair around to glare at the camera screen they were visible on. She noticed that the leader seemed to flinch around the same time the glare began; good.

"Do it, you imbecile, or I'll have the other squad set the mall on fire with you all inside it." She turned back around, looking at the screen with the viewing room on it. The subjects inside were still. Well, as still as they usually were, since they never seemed to sleep. But they were locked up, which was all that mattered.

"..Yes, Boss."

A few minutes later, she heard a gunshot followed by a gurgling scream that faded into silence. She shut her eyes, not enjoying the sound of it. She didn't want anybody else to die.

----------

"No, she said to leave him alone. I shot him in the head anyway. Destroy the head and nothing happens." The leader nudged the body with his foot. "I can't figure out why she told us to terminate him. That's not the symptoms of Tango."

"Yeah, I know. I've got a bad feeling about this. What if there was something nasty in that vial?" The team's sniper glanced uneasily at the doors of the mall; they were locked and the gates were down, but he didn't think that would stop the zombies for long.

"She said it was just more Tango. I think maybe it was just a different strain; Boss said that not everybody can catch it in briefing."

"I missed that."

"I was the only one she told. It's a need-to-know basis."

"So... say I choke on something. Are you going to shoot me because I cough?"

"No, Jenkins."

I stare at the girl in the mirror: T-shirt, torn up jeans, no beauty queen.
But the way that you see me, you get underneath me, and all my defenses just fall away, fall away.
I am beautiful with you, even in the darkest part of me. I am beautiful with you;
Make it feel the way it's supposed to be!

You're here with me: Just show me this and I'll believe I am beautiful with you!